Wireless communication apparatus for determining direction of arrival information to form a three-dimensional beam used by a transceiver

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication method and antenna system for determining the direction of arrival (DOA) of received signals in azimuth and elevation, (i.e., in three dimensions), to form a beam for transmitting and receiving signals. The system includes two antenna arrays, each having a plurality of antenna elements, two first stage multi-mode-port matrices, at least one second stage multi-mode-port matrix, an azimuth phase detector, an elevation amplitude detector, a plurality of phase shifters and a transceiver. The antenna arrays and the first stage multi-mode-port matrices form a plurality of orthogonal omni-directional modes. Each of the modes has a characteristic phase set. Two of the modes&#39; phases are used to determine DOA in azimuth. The second stage multi-mode-port matrix forms a sum-mode and a difference-mode used to determine the DOA of the received signals in elevation. A beam is formed in the direction of the received signals by adjusting the phase shifters.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/025,421 filed Dec. 29, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,622, which inturn claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/619,223, filed Oct. 15, 2004, which is incorporated by reference asif fully set forth.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is related to a wireless communication system.More particularly, the present invention is related to determiningdirection of arrival (DOA) information of received signals in azimuthand elevation, (i.e., in three dimensions), to form a three-dimensionalbeam used by a transceiver to transmit and receive signals.

BACKGROUND

Beamforming is performed in wireless communication systems to facilitatethe enhancement of communications exchanged between communicatingentities, and the rejection of signals that interfere with thecommunications.

Determining the DOA of beams received from the communicating entities isfundamental to correctly orienting a boresight of the beams and, usingan appropriate beam width, power, and other settings, and maximizing theperformance of one communication link while minimizing interference toother links.

An example of a conventional wireless communication system thatdetermines the DOA is U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,910 entitled “Methods andApparatus in Antenna Diversity Systems for Estimation of Direction ofArrival”, which issued to Mazur et al., (hereinafter referred to as“Mazur”), on Nov. 18, 2003. The system disclosed by Mazur is capable ofdeducing the DOA in one plane of incidence. However, Mazur's system iscapable of determining only the direction of the beam within atwo-dimensional plane at a right angle to the antenna array.

An adaptive antenna generates a set of antenna beams such that each beamcovers a narrow predefined area and the beams together cover a widepredefined area omni-directionally or within a sector. A signal sentfrom a transmitter is received by each of the antenna beams, and eachsignal is processed to calculate the angular information. The angularinformation is inherent in the phase difference between differentversions of the signal. A DOA estimation of the direction to the signalsource is made on the basis of the demodulated versions of the receivedsignal.

Conventional wireless communication systems estimate DOA in the contextof azimuth only, such as with Butler matrix implementations as disclosedby Mazur. The prior art does not take into account beamforming differingin three-dimensional space. There is no resolution in the elevationdomain in conventional wireless communication systems. The beam musttherefore be of such a width in elevation that it adequately intersectswith the target's antenna pattern.

FIG. 1 illustrates the disadvantages of restricting the formation ofbeams, formed by a transmitter 100, to two dimensions 105 and 110,(i.e., one plane), in a conventional wireless communication systemincluding the transmitter 100 and a receiver 120 having an antenna 215.Any given plane is defined by two dimensions. For example, a generalvolume of space is defined by coordinates x, y, and z. A plane may bedefined by selecting any two of the coordinates, say x and y. This planecontains all of the possible values of z. The prior art can operate in aplane using any of two of these dimensional pairs, or a plane skewedfrom the three orthogonal directions. However, there will always be aplane remaining with indeterminate values, which may or may not beparallel to a fixed orientation. Alternatively, the coordinate systemcould be rotated to make a plane parallel in two of the directions.

When beam adjustments are made to the beams 105 and 110 shown in theazimuth view of FIG. 1, there is no elevation adjustment of theboresight, as demonstrated by the beams 105 and 110 shown as having thesame orientation in the elevation view of FIG. 1. Thus, the beam widthis wider in the elevation dimension, with a corresponding need for ahigher gain factor. This results in an excessive usage of power by thetransmitter 100, and more interference to devices not involved in thelink.

Assuming that the transmitter 100 and the receiver 120 are transceiverswhich communicate via a wireless link, when the direction of beamtransmission between the transceiver 100 and the transceiver 120 arereversed, (i.e., transceiver 100 is receiving and transceiver 120 istransmitting), beams similar to those shown in FIG. 1 are formed by thetransceiver 100 for the reception of signals without allowing forelevation adjustment of the boresight. However, this may cause anexcessive number of signals that are not associated with the link to bereceived.

SUMMARY

The present invention is related to a wireless communication method andantenna system for determining the direction of arrival (DOA) ofreceived signals in azimuth and elevation, (i.e., in three dimensions),to form a beam for transmitting and receiving signals. The systemincludes (i) two antenna arrays, each having a plurality of antennaelements, (ii) two first stage multi-mode-port matrices in communicationwith the two antenna arrays, (iii) at least one second stagemulti-mode-port matrix, (iv) an azimuth phase detector, (v) an elevationamplitude detector, (vi) a plurality of phase shifters, and (vii) atransceiver. Each first stage multi-mode-port matrix includes aplurality of interconnecting hybrids for processing azimuth beams. Thesecond stage multi-mode-port matrix includes a plurality ofinterconnecting hybrids for processing elevation beams.

The antenna arrays and the first stage multi-mode-port matrices form aplurality of orthogonal omni-directional modes. Each mode has acharacteristic phase set. Two of the modes' phases are used to determineDOA in azimuth. The second stage multi-mode-port matrix forms a sum-modeand a difference-mode such that DOA of the received signals can bedetermined in elevation, and beams can be formed in the direction of thereceived signals by adjusting the phase shifters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding of the invention may be had from thefollowing description, given by way of example and to be understood inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates the disadvantages of a conventional wirelesscommunication system that restricts beam steering to two dimensions;

FIG. 2 illustrates the advantages of three-dimensional beamforming inboth azimuth and elevation in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows an antenna system including a Shelton-Butler matrix feedinga circular array, thus forming a 4-port Shelton-Butler matrix fedcircular array in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4A-4D show the available orthogonal omni-directional modes thatare formed by the circular array of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4E is a graphical representation of the phase mode 0, mode +1 andmode −1 shown in FIGS. 4A-4C;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary antenna system including a 2-tier stackedShelton-Butler matrix feeding a stacked circular array in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary beamforming and pointing antenna system;

FIG. 7 shows a graphical representation of the stacked circular array inthe exemplary antenna system of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 illustrates how elevation beams are formed in accordance with thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is applicable to any type of wirelesscommunication systems, including, but not limited to, cellular systems,mobile systems, fixed access systems, ad-hoc/mesh networks or the like.The present invention is applicable to any wireless communicationstandards including, but not limited to, 1G through 3G cellular systems,IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs), or the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates the advantages of three-dimensional beamformingimplemented by a transmitter 200 in both elevation and azimuth, in aconventional wireless communication system including the transmitter 200and a receiver 220 operating in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. Contrasting the system of FIG. 2 with the system ofFIG. 1, it can be seen that the antenna 215 of the receiver 220 can beencompassed by narrower beams 210 and 205 formed by the transmitter 200,than beams 105 and 110 formed by the transmitter 100. This translatesinto a lower power requirement for transmitter usage, and less powerbeing sent in other directions causing interference. In the receivercase, the highest gain is focused more directly towards the target,while rejecting signals more effectively from other directions. Notethat in order to achieve three-dimensional DOA estimation andbeamforming, the Butler Matrix disclosed by Mazur is inadequate.

Using a Shelton-Butler matrix feeding a circular array in an antennasystem creates isolated omni-directional pancake beams that are isolatedfrom each other. The phase of each mode is characteristic of thesignal's direction of arrival. By comparing the phases of two modes,information of the direction of arrival can be derived. Some mode pairselections allow unambiguous linear relationship between the phase andthe DOA. That greatly simplifies subsequent processing.

The same antenna system can electronically and automatically form a beamin the direction of the targeted incoming signal without resorting to aseparate system. This system can provide enough gain for wirelessapplications. For a system that requires higher gain, lenses,reflectors, and electronic controlled parasitic antennas can be used tofurther increase directivity to meet the need of such applications.

A single array system can be used to perform direction finding andautomatic beamforming in the desired direction. This system provides 360degree instantaneous azimuth coverage, where the prior art cannot.

FIG. 3 shows an antenna system 300 including a Shelton-Butler matrix 305feeding a circular antenna array 310, thus forming a 4-portShelton-Butler matrix fed circular array. Although the circular antennaarray 310 is depicted has having four antenna elements, it should benoted that the circular antenna array 310 may have as few as threeantenna elements and more than four elements. The ports 315 shown on topconnect to the antennas of the circular array 310. The ports 320 on thebottom are mode ports. The Shelton-Butler matrix 305 includes aplurality of hybrids and fixed phase shifters (e.g., line lengths). Theantenna system 300 forms multiple but isolated orthogonalomni-directional pancake shaped radiation patterns and thus a pluralityof available orthogonal omni-directional modes. The orthogonalitypreserves the full strength of each mode, which is in contrast toconventional mode formation using a power-divider, where the power isall used up in forming one mode. The phase of the antenna system 300 islinear to the DOA. Linear simplicity and high precision are the productsof the antenna system 300, whereby DOA information is provided for inazimuth only.

Elevation DOA detection requires two Shelton-Butler matrices 305 whichform two new modes, a sum-mode and a difference-mode. The ratio of thesum-mode over the difference-mode indicates the direction away fromboresight.

In order to form a beam in the direction of the arriving signal, a phaseshift is inserted in the sum-and-difference matrix to steer the sum-modebeam to the elevation boresight. This sum-mode can be used as the beamfor communication. However, the beam shape in azimuth is stillomni-directional. To form a directive beam in azimuth, all the modes inazimuth have to be aligned. This requires that each output be dividedinto two signals, and phase shifting each of the divided signals. Theazimuth beam can be synthesized using a fast Fourier transform (FFT).The phase shifting drives the beam to the required direction.

FIGS. 4A-4D show available orthogonal omni-directional modes that areformed by a 4-port Shelton-Butler matrix fed circular array. Each modehas its characteristic phase set. Together, they form a closed set. Thisset has the same characteristics of a fast Fourier transform set, likethey form an orthogonal set, which are completely isolated. Theorthogonality preserves the full strength of each mode, which is incontrast to mode formation using a power-divider, where the power is allused up in forming one mode. The multiple modes are labeled 0, +1, −1,and 2, according to the phase progression relative to the azimuth angleø.

FIG. 4E is a graphical representation of the phase mode 0, mode +1 andmode −1 shown in FIGS. 4A-4C. The mode phases of the first three modesare plotted showing phase versus the angle of arrival ø. FIG. 4Eillustrates how the phase is linear to angle ø. If modes +1 and 0 arepaired, then the phase difference corresponds directly to the angle ofarrival. If modes +1 and −1 are paired, then the phase difference istwice the angle ø. To determine the angle ø, that difference value hasto be divided by 2, thus doubling the precision. Linear simplicity andhigh precision are the products of this system.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary antenna system 500 including two azimuthboards 305A and 305B, which feed two identical circular antenna arrays310A and 310B in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. The circular antenna arrays 310A and 310B are spaced apart bya distance d. The antenna system 500 forms multiple but isolatedorthogonal omni-directional pancake shaped radiation patterns at themode points 505.

As shown in FIG. 5, the two azimuth boards 305A and 305B form a 2-tierstacked Shelton-Butler matrix which feeds, for example, eight antennaelements A1-A8 of a stacked circular antenna array 310 formed by the twoantenna arrays 310A and 310B. The antenna elements A1-A8 of the circularantenna array 310 may be any type with any polarization. The mode portsof the azimuth board 305A are electrically coupled to a plurality ofelectronic azimuth phase shifters 510A, 510B, 510C and 510D and acombiner 520. The mode ports of the azimuth board 305B are electricallycoupled to a plurality of electronic azimuth phase shifters 515A, 515B,515C and 515D and combiner 525. An electronic elevation phase shifter528 is coupled to the combined port of the combiner 525. The combinedport of the combiner 520 and the output of the electronic elevationphase shifter 528 are connected to respective input ports of a Butlermatrix 530. The outputs from the Butler matrix 530 form an elevationsum-mode 535 and an elevation difference-mode 540.

The transceiver 550 provides a baseband signal 590 to a processor 555which controls the phases Φ of each of the phase shifters 510A-510D,515A-515D and 528, (i.e., phases Φ1-Φ9). An azimuth phase detector 560provides phase information 575 to the transceiver 550 based on selectedoutput modes 505 sampled by directional couplers 565 and 570, (e.g.,mode 0 and mode +1 provided by the azimuth board 305A, as shown in FIG.5). Alternatively, directional couplers 565 and 570 may be powerdividers or any other known signal sampling device. An elevationamplitude detector 580 provides amplitude information 584 to thetransceiver 550 based on the elevation sum-mode 535 and the elevationdifference-mode 540 sampled by a directional coupler 545. Alternatively,the directional coupler 545 may be a power divider or any other knownsignal sampling device.

The directional coupler 545 acts as a radio frequency (RF) interface forthe transceiver 550 when the transceiver 550 forms beams used to receiveand transmit an RF signal 582. The baseband signal 590 is generated bythe transceiver 550 based on the RF signal 582, the phase information575 and the amplitude information 584. The processor 555 calculatesazimuth DOA and controls the phase shifters 510A-510D, 515A-515D and 528via phase control signal 592 based on the baseband signal 590. Theprocessor 555 may optionally provide a modulation signal 594 to thetransceiver 550 used for generating the RF signal 582. When the RFsignal 582 is formed by the transceiver 550, the RF signal 582 is routedthrough the directional coupler 545, the sum-mode port of the Butlermatrix 530, the elevation phase shifter 528, the combined ports of thecombiners 520 and 525, and the azimuth phase shifters 510A, 510B, 510C,510D, 515A, 515B, 515C and 515D, to feed the 2-tier stackedShelton-Butler matrix and, in turn, form at least one beam by using theantenna elements A1-A8.

The transceiver 550 forms beams for both azimuth and elevation using the2-tier stacked Shelton-Butler matrix. For elevation DOA, amplitudecomparison is used. A complete elevation and azimuth direction findingsystem is implemented by sharing a received single bit or pulse includedin each incoming signal. The bit or pulse contains both amplitude andphase information which is processed such that the amplitude informationis used for determining elevation, and the phase information is used fordetermining azimuth.

It is important to note that an antenna does not, by itself, detectdistance. Thus, a spherical coordinate system must be devised, (r, ø,θ), whereby the antenna uses only angles ø and θ. The distance may bedetected based on the measurement of time or phase parameters, ortriangulation techniques.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the Butler matrix 530 forms a respectivesum-mode 535 and a difference-mode 540 associated with a particularmode, (i.e., mode 0, mode 2, mode +1 and mode −1). The ratio of thesum-mode over the difference-mode is determined by the transceiver 550and the processor 555 to determine the angle away from the boresight.

For example, the broadside array factor and elemental elevation patternproduct may be calculated to derive a sum pattern equation and adifference pattern equation. The ratio of these two equations as afunction of elevation angle θ may be used to determine DOA andcalibrating the antenna system 500.

The same principles described above are applied to form a beam in thedirection of the arriving signal. Insertion of a phase shift in thesum-and-difference matrix steers the sum-mode beam to the elevationboresight. However, the beam shape in azimuth is still omni-directional.To form a directive beam in azimuth, all of the modes in azimuth have tobe aligned. This requires a power divider at the output, and phaseshifters in the divided branches. The azimuth beam may be synthesizedusing a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The phase shifters are used toform a beam in a desired direction

It should be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that theenhancements provided by the present invention may lead to more accurateknowledge of the correct direction of the boresight of transmit andreceive beams from one or both ends of a communication link. This allowsfor the narrowing of the beam width in both azimuth and/or elevation.Thus, the present invention facilitates a more robust link, lower powerconsumption, less received interference, and less induced interferenceto other devices not involved in this link.

The implementation of the present invention also provides enhancedtechniques for locating one or more devices. The angles of the beam(s)resolve the location of the device(s) in three dimensions, rather thanjust two dimensions as implemented by conventional wirelesscommunication systems. The resolution in three dimensions further allowsthe narrowing of the beam for diversity purposes. This narrowing furtherimproves the resolution of the angle in each plane of interest.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary beam formation and pointing antennasystem including mode ports a1, a2, a3 and a4 and phase shifters withphases Φ1, Φ2, Φ3 and Φ4 which form respective complex voltages A1, A2,A3 and A4 before entering a combiner, which outputs a complex voltage Eor E(ø), which is a function of azimuth angle ø, and is also referred toherein as the beam pattern of the array.

The normalized azimuth field pattern of the antenna array of the systemcan be written in terms of the matrix mode inputs as denoted by Equation(1) below:

$\begin{matrix}{{{E(\phi)} = \frac{\sum\limits_{n = {- 1}}^{2}{A_{n}{\mathbb{e}}^{jn\phi}}}{\sum\limits_{n = {- 1}}^{2}{A_{n}}}};} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(1)}\end{matrix}$where n is the mode number and A_(n) is the complex mode excitationcurrent. Because the modes of the matrix form an orthogonal set, thefar-field beam of the array can be easily synthesized and steered. Thesynthesis is not complex because the expression is a fast Fourierseries, the inverse of which provides the antenna system with necessaryinformation it needs about the phases Φ_(n) used to form the beam in therequired direction.

As shown in FIG. 7, the stacked circular arrays can be represented bytwo point sources to compute the elevation sum and difference patterns.Since the two arrays are identical, a beam pattern multiplicationtechnique can be used to determine a final elevation beam pattern, whered is the vertical distance of separation of the phase center of twocircular arrays, theta θ is the depression angle, and ξ is the phasedifference between the two arrays.

The expression for the sum beam is denoted by Equation (2) below:

$\begin{matrix}{{{{F_{s}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{H(\theta)}}};} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(2)}\end{matrix}$where λ is the wavelength, F_(s)(θ) is the array factor from elevationsum, and H(θ) is the pattern in elevation from the circular array.

The expression for the difference beam is denoted by Equation (3) below:

$\begin{matrix}{{{{F_{d}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \pi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\pi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}};} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(3)}\end{matrix}$where F_(d)(θ) is the array factor associated with an elevationdifference.

FIG. 8 illustrates how elevation sum and difference beam patterns areformed, where the sum beam is generally higher than the difference beam.Each of the four azimuth modes 0, 2, +1 and −1 has a sum and differencerelationship in elevation as depicted in FIG. 8. Only two of the fourmodes are needed, (e.g., modes 0 and +1). The beam width is a functionof the antenna array stack spacing d. The smaller the spacing d, thebroader the sum and difference beam patterns become.

A 2-stack elevation matrix may simply consist of a hybrid and a fixedphase-shifter, or an unequal line length. The DOA in elevation is afunction of amplitude ratio of sum over difference. Any existingambiguity is resolved by checking the phases of sum and difference,whether they are in-phase or out-of-phase. A calibration plot oftenresolves the difference between theory and practice. A small amount ofsignal can be tapped off from the required modes, (e.g., modes 0 and+1), using high directivity directional couplers, to determine DOA inelevation.

After the DOA is determined by using the amplitude ratio of sum overdifference, or from a calibration data map, the angle of the sum beam istilted by the angle θ, where ξ is solved using Equation (4) as denotedbelow:

$\begin{matrix}{{{{F(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \xi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\xi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}};} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(4)}\end{matrix}$where angle θ is now the known DOA. Once the array phase difference ξ isdetermined, the beam may be accurately pointed in the direction of areceived signal for which angle θ has been determined. Without thisinformation, the information needed to accurately point the beam is notcomplete.

Although the features and elements of the present invention aredescribed in the preferred embodiments in particular combinations, eachfeature or element can be used alone without the other features andelements of the preferred embodiments or in various combinations with orwithout other features and elements of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described in terms of the preferredembodiment, other variations which are within the scope of the inventionas outlined in the claims below will be apparent to those skilled in theart.

1. A wireless communication apparatus for determining the direction ofarrival (DOA) of received signals in elevation, and forming beams in thedetermined direction, the apparatus comprising: two antenna arrays, eachof the antenna arrays including a plurality of antenna elements; a firstazimuth matrix board coupled to a first one of the antenna arrays; asecond azimuth matrix board coupled to a second one of the antennaarrays; a first set of azimuth phase shifters; a second set of azimuthphase shifters; a first combiner having a plurality of input portscoupled to respective mode ports of the first azimuth matrix board viarespective ones of the first set of azimuth phase shifters; a secondcombiner having a plurality of input ports coupled to respective modeports of the second azimuth matrix board via respective ones of thesecond set of azimuth phase shifters; an electronic elevation phaseshifter coupled to an output of the second combiner; and a Butler matrixcoupled to an output of the first combiner and an output of theelectronic elevation phase shifter, the Butler matrix configured to forman elevation sum-mode and an elevation difference-mode such that DOA ofthe received signals can be determined in elevation, and beams can beformed in the direction of the received signals.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 further comprising: a transceiver in communication with theButler matrix, wherein: the apparatus forms a plurality of orthogonalomni-directional modes, each of the modes has a characteristic phaseset, and two of the modes' phases are used to determine DOA in azimuth.3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the antenna arrays are identicalcircular arrays spaced apart by a distance d which defines the width ofat least one pair of elevation beams formed by at least one of the firstand second azimuth matrix boards.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 furthercomprising: an azimuth phase detector for detecting the azimuth phase oftwo of the orthogonal omni-directional modes.
 5. The apparatus of claim2 wherein the orthogonal omni-directional modes include mode 0, mode 2,mode +1 and mode −1.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: anelevation amplitude detector, wherein DOA is determined by dividing theelevation sum-mode by the elevation difference-mode.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 3 wherein the distance d is adjusted to change the width of the atleast one pair of elevation beams.
 8. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein abeam pattern multiplication technique is used to determine a finalelevation beam pattern, where d is the vertical distance of separationof the phase center of the two antenna arrays, θ is the depressionangle, and ξ is the phase difference between the two antenna arrays. 9.The apparatus of claim 8 wherein a sum beam is formed by the apparatusas a function of the following equation:${{{F_{s}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{H(\theta)}}},$where λ is the wavelength, F_(s)(θ) is the array factor derived from theelevation sum-mode, and H(θ) is the elevation pattern of one of the twoidentical circular arrays.
 10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein adifference beam is formed by the apparatus as a function of thefollowing equation:${{{F_{d}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \pi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\pi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}},$where λ is the wavelength, F_(d)(θ) is the array factor derived from theelevation difference-mode, and H(θ) is the elevation pattern of one ofthe two identical circular arrays.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9 whereinthe sum beam is tilted by the angle θ to solve for ξ, where${{F(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \xi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\xi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}$where θ is the known DOA.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each ofthe antenna arrays has four antenna elements.
 13. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the Butler matrix is a two-port Butler matrix.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the received signals include bits or pulsescontaining both amplitude and phase information, and the amplitudeinformation is used for determining elevation and the phase informationis used for determining azimuth.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe apparatus forms transmit and receive beams that steer in bothazimuth and elevation.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein theapparatus forms a single beam for transmitting and receiving signalsfrom a source, wherein the beam has independent elevation and azimuthvalues.
 17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus forms beamsfor reception of signals.
 18. A wireless communication apparatus fordetermining the direction of arrival (DOA) of received signals inelevation, and forming beams in the determined direction, the apparatuscomprising: two antenna arrays, each of the antenna arrays including aplurality of antenna elements; a first azimuth matrix board coupled to afirst one of the antenna arrays; a second azimuth matrix board coupledto a second one of the antenna arrays; and a Butler matrix coupled to anoutput of the first combiner and an output of the electronic elevationphase shifter, the Butler matrix configured to form an elevationsum-mode and an elevation difference-mode such that DOA of the receivedsignals can be determined in elevation, and beams can be formed in thedirection of the received signals, wherein the antenna arrays areidentical circular arrays spaced apart by a distance d which defines thewidth of at least one pair of elevation beams formed by at least one ofthe first and second azimuth matrix boards, a beam patternmultiplication technique is used to determine a final elevation beampattern, where d is the vertical distance of separation of the phasecenter of the two antenna arrays, θ is the depression angle, and ξ isthe phase difference between the two antenna arrays, and a sum beam isformed by the apparatus as a function of the following equation:${{{F_{s}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} \right)}{H(\theta)}}},$where λ is the wavelength, F_(s)(θ) is the array factor derived from theelevation sum-mode, and H(θ) is the elevation pattern of one of the twoidentical circular arrays.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the sumbeam is tilted by the angle θ to solve for ξ, where${{{F_{d}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \pi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\pi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}},$where θ is the known DOA.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein thedistance d is adjusted to change the width of the at least one pair ofelevation beams.
 21. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the receivedsignals include bits or pulses containing both amplitude and phaseinformation, and the amplitude information is used for determiningelevation and the phase information is used for determining azimuth. 22.The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the apparatus forms transmit andreceive beams that steer in both azimuth and elevation.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 18 wherein the apparatus forms a single beam fortransmitting and receiving signals from a source, wherein the beam hasindependent elevation and azimuth values.
 24. The apparatus of claim 18wherein the apparatus forms beams for reception of signals.
 25. Awireless communication apparatus for determining the direction ofarrival (DOA) of received signals in elevation, and forming beams in thedetermined direction, the apparatus comprising: two antenna arrays, eachof the antenna arrays including a plurality of antenna elements; a firstazimuth matrix board coupled to a first one of the antenna arrays; asecond azimuth matrix board coupled to a second one of the antennaarrays; and a Butler matrix coupled to an output of the first combinerand an output of the electronic elevation phase shifter, the Butlermatrix configured to form an elevation sum-mode and an elevationdifference-mode such that DOA of the received signals can be determinedin elevation, and beams can be formed in the direction of the receivedsignals, wherein the antenna arrays are identical circular arrays spacedapart by a distance d which defines the width of at least one pair ofelevation beams formed by at least one of the first and second azimuthmatrix boards, a beam pattern multiplication technique is used todetermine a final elevation beam pattern, where d is the verticaldistance of separation of the phase center of the two antenna arrays, θis the depression angle, and ξ is the phase difference between the twoantenna arrays, and a difference beam is formed by the apparatus as afunction of the following equation:${{{F_{d}(\theta)}{H(\theta)}} = {\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{2\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \pi} \right)}{{Sin}\left( {{\frac{\pi\; d}{\lambda}\cos\;\theta} + \frac{\pi}{2}} \right)}{H(\theta)}}},$where λ is the wavelength, F_(d)(θ) is the array factor derived from theelevation difference-mode, and H(θ) is the elevation pattern of one ofthe two identical circular arrays.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25 whereinthe distance d is adjusted to change the width of the at least one pairof elevation beams.
 27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the receivedsignals include bits or pulses containing both amplitude and phaseinformation, and the amplitude information is used for determiningelevation and the phase information is used for determining azimuth. 28.The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the apparatus forms transmit andreceive beams that steer in both azimuth and elevation.
 29. Theapparatus of claim 25 wherein the apparatus forms a single beam fortransmitting and receiving signals from a source, wherein the beam hasindependent elevation and azimuth values.
 30. The apparatus of claim 25wherein the apparatus forms beams for reception of signals.